Genius At Work

For fifty-one months weeks of each year, the 49er spotlight shines almost exclusively on Jim Harbaugh. But this week, that light casts it’s bald gaze on Trent Baalke. From Thursday through Saturday, Harbaugh will mostly be a nervous wreck, waving pom poms and wearing out the chair to the right of Baalke in the Draft Room.

The first two drafts Baalke conducted, he mostly flew under the radar personality-wise. Mum and glum was the operative image. This year, however, he’s tossed a little cheek into the process, nonchalantly leaking that he knows whom he will choose at pick number 30 in the first round. He may not have put the name in a sealed envelope, like Buddy Ryan did once to shove it up a skeptical reporter’s back lap, but we’ll trust his assurance for now.

I guess an Executive of the Year trophy on your bookshelf gives you the right to strut a bit.

In contrast, the GM of the Dolphins only has a “pretty good feeling at what I want at eight.” And people wonder why the Miami franchise is struggling. Actually, people don’t wonder. They know. It’s spelled Jeff Ireland.

Baalke has thrown down two consecutive superb drafts in two years on the job. He’s stocked the team with 9 or 12 quality players, and Harbaugh is using all of them on a regular basis. Four are starters, four are vital situational guys, and one is a QB in waiting. A couple more are either standout special teamers or jury is still out unknowns.

He’s done such a good job, he’s put himself in a pickle. There aren’t many spots left on the team that can be improved this year. And most of the current players are young. It’s tough to make a splash drafting guys who won’t become starters for two or three years. It’s also tough to ace three drafts in a row.

Of course, all 49er GMs have to walk in the shadow of the Legend of Bill Walsh, just like all QBs and WRs fall short of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Just for fun, let’s take a look at Walsh’s ten years as 49er GM and rate the Genius.

Walsh had some whiffs, but he also drafted three guys in Montana, Lott and Rice who are arguably the best EVER at their positions – Rice might be the best PLAYER in NFL history. He also drafted a few more who were the best at their position for short periods – Dwight Clark (1981-82), Eric Wright (1983-85), Roger Craig (1984-85, 1988), Michael Carter (1985-88) and Charles Haley (1987-1990). That ability to identify truly great and Pro Bowl caliber players was what got the 49ers their dynasty.

Actually, Walsh had an excellent track record as a GM for that era. In the 70s and 80s, most draft picks did not end up making the team or sticking for long. Scouting was not as comprehensive as it later became, the lack of free agency meant that the bottom of rosters turned over more slowly than in our era, etc. Teams saw guys drafted in the second half of the draft as longshots who were likely to be nothing more than TC fodder. Also, Walsh was drafting in the first generation of the Cocaine epidemic. Some guys – Puki and Shell most notably – who might have had longer careers flamed out quickly. Today drug testing and education tend to limit those losses.

The Niners traded (draft picks) for Fred Dean, Bullitt . . .
.
1986 was an incredible draft, but the 1981 draft pretty much won the Niners their first 2 Super Bowls. I mean who could forget Major Ogilvie? The defensive backfield was a shambles the previous 4 years, and they were literally signing guys off the street. Lott, Wright, and Williamson came in and instantly made the defensive secondary a strong point rather than a sieve.
.

Dean was holding out indefinitely, saying that he made less money than his brother-in-law the truck driver.
Since he had no intention of playing again for less than Pro Bowl money, he had made himself effectively a RFA.

That’s not really right RTF. Dean played for the Chargers in 1981. He was traded to the Niners somewhere around week 3 or 4. SD knew he wasn’t happy, and they felt they had to get what they could at the time, rather than rework his contract then or at the end of the season.
.
Monstrously stupid move on SD’s part, and their pass rush suffered immediately and for the next 7 years. It was the missing piece for the Niners asnd his impact was instant.

Dean held out in 1980. Even after he signed, the acrimony lingered. In 1981 he got into a new confrontation with the Chargers as the season began. I think he played three games with them, then said he was done. We made the trade after week four. He wasn’t able to play against the Redskins, debuting instead against the Cowgirls. The Chargers ended up getting a second round pick from us, and exchanging positions in the first round in 1983. The Chargers ended up with Billy Ray Smith. We then traded their first round pick BACK to SD on draft day ’83 for two seconds. They got Gil Byrd, the SJSU cornerback. The seconds turned into Roger Craig, and in another trade, Wendell Tyler. All in all, I would say we won handily.

Jeeez. Reminds me of the Dubs trading Robert Parrish and the draft rights to Kevin McHale to the Celtics for Joe Barry Couchpotato.
.
In an opposite kind of way.
.
IIRC, the Niners traded draft picks for Steve Young as well.

Walsh told Dean he wasn’t going to play him much (in the Cowboys game), he wanted to see what shape he was in (“how he’d do”).
After completely terrorizing Danny White on his first 3 plays, he said to Walsh after coming off the field, “How’d I do, Coach?”.

Allegations are that Ai8nt’s GM Mickey Loomis from 2002-2004 was listening in on the opposing coach’s conversations which is a big no no.
Onece a cheater always a cheater applies here. Did it help the Aints win games, probably not but the fact that they were open to it shows their ethics.
Hypothetically, what if the Colts were spying on the Aints and listenong and somehow got wind that the suprise onside kick was coming? The Aints don’t win the Super Bowl then.
Loomis should just resign because he’s dragging down their entire org.

It’s a very dangerous road on a good day Skeebs.
Yes,2 NJSP Troopers were apparently operating on their own to provide the escort.
Story out here says they’re now suspended without pay.
Funny thing about the video is, the other Troopers handing out tickets to the little people while the parade or expensive metal was carrying out Cannonball Run in broad daylight.
Like most of these kinds of issues in NJ, it shows how corrupt things are at the State level. Politics.

Skeebs
Shades of Joe Theisman and Cody Pickett using the QB on ST.
Actually Billy Kilmer,Steve Spurier and Danny White punted
and George Blanda was a kicker as well as QB. Multi tasking in NFL is a lost art.

Yeah, NoFear, we can divine the meaning of Skeebs posts even when they are wrong. Yers we have trouble disseminating no matter how they are written.
.
Were all those cars in the video heading to the NY Giants training facility? Awesome vid, BTW. The mooks in the car filming are too funny.

Tebow gets punt duty? Yikes. Shades of Cody Pickett? Ouch. Yeah, I’m sure kneel-boy is getting a warm and fuzzy feeling being compared to Cody Pickett.
.
I have no idea how this plays out, but NY is in for a shitstorm of a QB controvery if Sanchez comes out slow/crappy. The fans in NY already have little patience for Sanchize, but without a string defense to help him, Tebow won’t help matters much. A divided locker room will be even more so with Timmy face-time riding the fan/media push into the starting lineup.

I heard Shannon Sharpe (one of the most articulate former players I’ve ever heard) a couple months ago mention one player who had left the Jets last year which caused the locker room to disintegrate – I’d never heard of the guy; Sharpe’s point was that the guy was cliqueless.
Tebow’s overt fundamentalism will be the locker room story for me. Nowhere better than NY.
As far as the player, give him 1-2 years to relearn how to pass the ball before you pass judgment. The guy singlehandedly turned the Broncos around last year with his drive and determination (not to mention he was surprisingly effective at holding on to the ball, unlike Orton with his penchant for the wtf interceptions), only occasionally with his passing.
I can’t help it. Tebow is still one of my favorite NFL stories, and I still believe he has the potential to be reborn as an elite NFL QB.

Singlehandedly? Sorry, no. Tebow diid NOTHING singlehandedly. And therein lies the rub. Many players on Denver were entirely put off by the ‘aw shucks all I do is carry this team on my back’ persona he projected.
.
The Denver defense started the year hurt and battered. As they came back and got healthy, the TEAM improved. The timing fell around the time the team gave up on Ortron.
.
Numbers aren’t everything, but look at the shit Alex Smith takes around the blog world for going 14-4 and being #9 in the league in QBR. Tebow? 28th. He ‘led’ Denver to a 1-3 record down the stretch. Only the abject futility of the Raiders and their 0-4 to close the season allowed them to REACH the playoffs. Yeah, the Pittsburgh game was his shining moment. Good for him. But 99.5% of the people in the league see the reality of the situation. Elway was SO non-commital to tie his wagon to Tebow. Not because of his religion (as some of the more fanatical Denver fans would have you think), but because the guy is such a rough QB. He needs a ton of work.
.
I don’t give a rat’s ass either way how Tebow’s season or career goes, but it’s a little off-putting that a guy with obvious flaws in his game gets ascribed all these glowing reviews based on (really) the improvement of the Denver defense. And really, what does it say to how the Jets feel about him when they way their QB of the future is going to be on special teams?
.
Tebow’s take is somewhat refreshing, as he’s just going along with what they tell him. But what he has in his back pocket is the fanaticism of millions of fans around the country that will be pressuring for him to get the starting QB job.
.
The Jets are a freak show anyway. This whole thing smacks of grandstanding on Woody Johnson’s part.

Tebow has some raw athleticism and talent. He is also by most accounts a hard worker. He also, as someone pointed out, basically needs to be wholly rebuilt and retrained as a QB. Not easy to do at this point. Call him a 30-1 longshot at this point. Of course, at some point in things, few people if anyone wanted Unitas, Starr, Montana or Brady. I wish him well in his effort; I’m just not going to hold my breath.

Wrongo, Chuck. The Broncos started the season 1-4 with Orton, who I like and is a far, far better passer than Tebow. They had a massive McDaniels hangover and the season looked to be going down the tubes. Again.
Down 15-0 at Miami with 5:00 to play, Tebow did what he later did several other times last season: he got himself confused with John Elway, and won the game with flawless last minute comeback play.
After the vaunted D gave up 45 the next week in The Tebow Taunt game, he proceeded to lead a 6 game winning streak including a divisional road sweep.
The season started to turn around. Thanks to Tebow. Thanks to Tebow. That’s why the Broncos turned around from 1-4 to 7-1 (!) with no other change but Orton to Tebow.
Didn’t I mention that Tebow was one of the highest rated PASSERS in the 4th quarter last year?
The difference in the team was palpable. No one confused Tebow with a real NFL QB, and no one knew exactly why.
But the Bronoos started winning. They started believing they could win.
It was Tebow.

I’m one of the Tebow skeptics.
The stat you probably don’t know about is Tebow fumbled the ball 14 times and the other team recovered 11 of them.
His completion percentage was 46%
and just like the wildcat the DCs of the NFL will figure him out and clamp down on what he does best. His success was mostly because he suprised a lot of defenses by extending plays for 30 seconds.
Could be wrong but I don’t see a makeover for Tebow because his OC Tony Sparano has never been an OC at the NFL level and he is an OL coach by specialty. I just don’t see it.

Miami? Really? What did Tebow do for the first 55:00 minutes? Denver surprised bad teams. Their 7 game winning streak came at the expense of 0 teams with winning records. They beat the AFC west. They beat one playoff team all year. They shocked Pittsburgh in the playoffs. At home.
.
And, there was plenty of noise in the locker room that everyone else on the team was overlooked at the altar of Tebow.
.
Like I said, I don’t care either way. I just think he gets way too much credit for what went down in Denver. He won some close games. Good teams beat the shit of of him. And all those psychos in Denver praying for Tebow to be the starter and lead them to the promised land have shut their yaps pretty damn fast now that they have Peyton Manning as their starting QB.
.
He may re-invent himself as a solid QB, but he has a long way to go. Which is WHY the Jets project him as a punt protector, and nominal 15-20 play-per-game guy.

In other words, Tebow did well with broken plays. By running and by buying time.
.
Tebow running a set offense was a disaster. Which is why Elway was so exasperated with him. You can sneak some wins by playing in the Slash Stewart/Randall Cunningham/Tebow style, but eventually that game catches up to you and you get exposed.

So, Chuck, you’re saying that Harbaugh and his coaching staff had nothing to do with the success of last season’s 49ers?
It’s the same argument. The D was 4th in the league in points allowed in 2009. They won 8. It was as effective last year.
Sing’s team (with pretty much the same playmakers on offense – see Alex) won 6 in 2010. Harbaugh won 13. Harbaugh didn’t make a difference?
The Denver D was the SAME one in weeks 5-17 as it was in weeks 1-4. Same coaching. Different starting QB.
1-4, then 7-4 (starting 7-1) plus a playoff win. Top ranked 4th qtr passer.
1-4 vs. 7-1. You can argue till you are blue in the face, but you won’t change that.

I’m sold on TeBone being one of the most ‘inspiring, influential’ people on the planet according to one recent poll. But it wasn’t him who turned the Bronks losing ways around? The Bone has done this at various levels his whole playing career so last year in the NFL didn’t surprise me. On Chuck’s blog yeah the wise skeptics were forced to bite their tongues as the season played out. They’ll have a new batch of excuses this year if need be.

“No doubt about it, Tebow infuriates the godless more than anyone. It’s almost comical to see the furious scrambling to bury Tebow, a young Heisman Trophy winner…”
.
Yep and predictable too, just the flip side of the Alex debate. My God what if a believer was actually, you know, good?
.
Speaking of the predictable and godless- I see the Chicomms are continuing to maneuver in the Seychelles out west of here…
.
Far as TeBone goes: I’m no fan of the Jets but let us pray they never beat the 9ers with him at the wheel. We might be able to survive the freakin commies in the south China Sea but the Bone smacking the Niners? Never! 5150 on line 3. World crisis time!

As usual you are introducing elements outside of football into the Tebow discussion. You just help it can you?

The bottom line is the Broncos invested a #1 draft pick for Tebow. He was jettisoned to the Jets for a 4th and a 6th round pick.They couldn’t waity to get rid of Tebow the guy who led them to the playoffs. Tebow could’ve learned under Manning and could’ve been his backup. Instaed Broncos got rid of him and now have Caleb Haney as the backup.

If offered a #4 and #6 would you trade your number one draft choice? I don’t think so.

As usual NoFear, you inject your simplistic socio/political beliefs into this. I suppose you support slavery and spousal abuse since it’s cool in the old testament.
.
Lord let me be chaste. Just not yet. Or, like they say, there are no atheists in foxholes.
.
Tebow is the poster boy for unwarranted hero-worship, based on his hyperholiness and one win over a quality opponent. Why is he being relegated to the punt team in NY?
.
Truth is, Dever’s entire team was beset by injuries early last year. Champ Bailey was out for 4 games, Dumerville missed large chunks of the season, Ty Warren missed the season, D. Thomas missed time, as did Brandon Marshall, and Eddie Royal. Most of them were back for the Miami game. Did they get better around then? Yes.
.
Frankly, I’d agree with the 2 time Super Bowl winner and GM about the guy. He couldn’t lose Tebow fast enough. I suppose that means Elway is the anti-Christ. Right, skippy?
.
RTF, coaching had a lot to do with A Smith’s improvement. What does that have to do with Tebow? Fox was as exapsperated as Elway in dealing with Tebow. Neither guy really wanted him. How do you build a team around broken plays? Take out all the hyper-religiosity and you have a 3rd stringer who would be relegated to nothing more than Gio Carmazzi status.

‘RTF, coaching had a lot to do with A Smith’s improvement. What does that have to do with Tebow? Fox was as exapsperated as Elway in dealing with Tebow. Neither guy really wanted him. How do you build a team around broken plays? Take out all the hyper-religiosity and you have a 3rd stringer who would be relegated to nothing more than Gio Carmazzi status.’>>

When the Niners finally move to Santa Clara will Mayor Ed Lee say something similar? I think Chris Christie is looking at this not as a sports fan but as a real estate mogul/landlord. He thinks all the Nets fans are done with the team cuz they moved to Brooklyn about 8 miles away. Fand don’t cross state lines eh Chris?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDvGl53ksR4

Chuck, you completely miss the point. You make one argument in one case (Harbaugh and the Niners), then completely dismiss the same logic behind the argument in another (Tebow and the Broncos).
You can’t have it both ways. In both cases, there was a major change, then incredible improvement.
Cause and effect. I think so in both cases. You say no, it’s only true in one case, and a fluke in the other.
1-4 vs. 7-4 plus a playoff win over the defending AFC Champs speaks for itself.

And they equal Tony Promo in playoff wins, Grump.
.
Bat-shit weirdness is always out there to be found. In the immortal words of Hunter Thompson, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
.
For all the hype around what Tebow did in Denver, they lost 3 of 4 to reach the playoffs.

Whatever. I don’t ascribe as much to what happened in Denver as you. Half their team was hurt, and most of them came back around the Miami game. Tebow didn’t beat a winning team until the WC game.
.
All I see is the guys that had him were trying to get rid of him at all costs rather than try to build a team around him.

Elway didn’t want him. Tebow is a project, not an NFL QB at this point (nor perhaps any other, time will tell). Elway wanted an NFL QB, as I have written before. The Broncos discovered last season – after they started winning behind Tebow! – that they have a good enough D and good enough ST to be a contender.

What they desperately needed was a healthy Peyton Manning. They got him.

John L Smith guys.
I’m starting to buy the hype about Silatolu actually.
Not sure I’d spend Pick 30 on him though?
This is a tough slot to predict.
I like the idea of finding a bookend for Aldon along with a RB early.
I do think we can get a WR in the 1st 3 or 4 Rds that can be developed.
Sliding back a few slots from 30 might play into this picture too.

Should be an interesting watch as Baalke and Harbaugh fill some holes.

Have you bern hitting the schnapps? Why would Miami trade for Alex when they could have signed him outright as a FA?
Surely you don’t think they’re that inept?
Just curious what you want to deal Crabtree away for? 4th rounder?
Shit the team went 14-4 ;ast year. Let’s blow it up and start all over again. I seem to be missing something here. Or is this the usual Alex/Crabtree angst?

Jax would be just as QB needy and sits right in front of Miami of course.
Rookie Cap makes dealing up much more Cap friendly and we’ve got Josh Johnson with some Harbaugh experience under his belt.
We’ll likely sit at 30.
I’m just bored and ready for some action at this point.

I’m torn between Zeitler and Silatolu and whether either is the right call at 30?
Certainly a need position but can we expect immediate production?
How about Gores’ replacement?
Doug Martin seems like a perfect fit to me.
Shea McClellin?
I want a difference maker at 30 if that’s possible? I’m cooling on the WR idea in that slot.
Fleener still has my interest since blocking isn’t a major concern with Vernon already there to give him time to develop.
We’ve got lots of flexibility this year to pick a good fit.

Will be interesting to see just how valuable the OG position is to Baalke.
God knows McCloughan couldn’t get it right and, Baalke wasted no time grabbing Iupati much higher.
It’s a chess match of GMs this week.
I love the speculation phase and searching for the prized pieces needed to complete the perfect beast.
I agree with the ‘Trenches’ theory.
Good OL/DL pieces need to be gotten when you have the chance.

Alex Smith has no significant trade value at this point. He was a unrestricted free agent and anybody could;ve signed him.
Now a month later you expect someone to swap a high draft pick for him? Sounds like a sportstalk radio trade suggestion to me.When you are stirring that particular pot I’m having Spitblood flashbacks.

Replacements for Gore; second round Lamar Miller (some have nicknamed him Gore 2.0) 3rd or 4th rd Robert Turbin or Bernard Pierce.

And this happened over 2 weeks ago but I hadn’t realized thet KNBR canned the razor Ralph Barbieri. The razor has retained Angela Alioto (why???) and they’re going to sue for wrongful termination claiming it was due to him admitting he had Parkinson’s Disease.

Seems like you’re down on Crabtree.
What kind of numbers from him would make you happy?
Last year he had 72 catches 874 yds and 4 tds.
At the start of 2011 I was projecting 80 catches 1000 yds and 8 tds.
He came just slightly short and way short on TDs but not enough to trade him.
AS I have often said you don’t move someone unless you have someone better to step in or are forced to make the move.

Rob, Crabs is at best a 2 now. But he obviously stays over KW.
.
The problem with slants I think is more a Crabs problem than a Smith problem. Crabs has been earholed a couple times by Smith when Crabs wasn’t looking for the ball.

Regardless if you deem a WR a 1 or 2 in reality he was the #1 last year and either drew the other team’s best cover CB or was doubled. Do you realize that Crabtree caught more balls 72 than all the other WRs combined 71?
All these proposed trades you guys are coming up with. What are the Niners getting in return?
This team is now in a position to win now. Waiting for a future pick to develop just might close that window.

Chuck is FOS on Crabtree and Goldson, but I’m not going to tell him or he’ll argue till he’s blue in the face. You know Chuck. Once he’s made up his mind about something, he won’t change it till he pretends he never said it.

Assante Samuel was traded to the Falcons for a 7th rd draft pick.
This just further illustrates how the Raiduhs were totally fleeced by the Bengals. Palmer came at a high price considering he was never going to play for the Bengals again.
And the Eagles “Dream Team” nobody can get open on us blanket defensive backfield didn’t even last a year.

Bullit my suggestions on Crabtree/Alex is simply to open the way for the future.
I’m talking possibilities vs. potential.
I need nothing for Alex except an improvement on my Roster.
Would you take DeCastro?
How about Kirkpatrick?
I’d prefer to improve somewhere that needs to be improved.
Alex has a very easy Cap number to deal with.
Crabtree makes a lot of money for little return.
Goldson? He’s on the FTag and can probably be replaced with a more versatile, less expensive option.
Sean Richardson from Vandy is my quiet option if we pass on Harrison Smith.

With the addition of Moss, Manningham and Josh Johnson, we can make it through another Season without Crabtree and Alex IMO.
By the same token, we don’t have to panic if we stand pat.
I’m more inclined to take Doug Martin over a WR right now too.
Frank is near the end now, Hunter is spelling him and Dixon/Jacobs are temporary short ydg guys.
We need a bell cow for the next 5 years.
I like Turbin and Miller as well.

Finally, adding a bookend edge rusher to compliment Aldon, would also make me happy at Pick 30.

Crabtree is a slot guy and, he’s not very fast.
This Draft Class has multiple options that will likely offer better results than Crabtree and Kyle Williams have given us.
Danny Coale for example, is probably an improvement on Crabtree and could be had in Rd 5 or later.

It’s all speculation Bullit.
Crabtree just doesn’t impress me as a ‘want it at all costs’ kinda guy.
He’s Deions’ protege, he’s got a Diva clause in his Contract and, he’s conspicuously absent in Camp and Preseason.
We all hope he turns into a Pro Bowl asset and takes us to the promised land but, I don’t see the effort from him.
Whether it’s due to Alex, or something else, our QB/WR dynamic is abysmal.

Your premise is flawed because you are assuming someone’s giving you a #1 pick for either Alex or Crabtree (I think that’s what I’m reading into your post) because DeCastro will be a top 15 pick.
If no team was willing to give a #1 picki for Mike Wallace, that should tell you something.
You really need to get over the notion that Crabtree is a diva.
You make him out to be a Brandon Marshall type.
Sorry but you give little credit to Crabtree. Last season if you didn’t have Crabtree you’d be relying on Gin and K Williams. Good luck with that. You seem to discount the fact that Crabtree is a willing and excellent downfield blocker and the suce3ss of the running game counts on his blocking on the edgte.

Bullit -I’m simply suggesting a Trade up scenario.
It’s all pie in the sky Mock Trade kinda stuff I’m suggesting.
My point is not to get anything for Alex but to use him as Trade bait to move up.
He’s more ready than Tannehill would be right?

As for Mike Wallace, he’s gonna cost big money and a 1st Rd Pick.
This Draft is loaded with WRs. Granted Wallace is plug-n-play but, there’s the Contract demands to deal with.

My position on Crabtree is pretty clear.
He’s a top 15 pick that missed several Camps and Preseason games.
My opinion is that he’s not committed like Jerry Rice was.
I question his desire to be here.
The diva notion started when he held out and it got written into his Contract.
He’s shown me very little fire to win and, I feel he and Alex may never coexist.
Comes back to my opinion about the QB/WR dynamic.
Maybe we need to split them up?

I get your position about the run game too. However, blocking is expected from WRs in the WCO.

I’m lukewarm on the production we’ve gotten to date from both he and Alex.
As for suggesting he is anything like Brandon Marshall, that’s your interpretation.
Not sure how you got that?
Marshall is a Bipolar loudmouth.
Crabtree is hardly ever heard from in media terms.